"The eyes see only what the mind is prepared to comprehend."

Tag Archives: CME

By Kat Piper
Epoch Times Staff
Created: March 30, 2012
Last Updated: April 4, 2012

Massive bursts of solar wind and magnetic fields from the Sun can cause huge sunquakes, according to new UK research.

The results of the study, led by University College London’s Mullard Space Science Laboratory, are being presented by Dr Sergei Zharkovat at the National Astronomy Meeting 2012 in Manchester on Friday, March 30.

Research over the last 10 years has shown that sunquakes can be produced when solar flares—huge explosions of energy in the Sun’s atmosphere—impact and travel into the Sun. The quakes appear as circular ripples on the surface of the Sun.

The new study shows that eruptions of charged particles and magnetic fields known as Coronal Mass Ejections (CMEs) are also able to produce sunquakes.

“Sunquakes are generated by solar flares, when enormous amounts of energy are released high up in the solar atmosphere. Most of the energy goes up into interplanetary space, but a fraction of this energy travels to the Sun’s surface creating a sonic boom that causes the solar interior to oscillate and produce the ripples,” explained Zharkov in an email.

“I sometimes think of sunquakes as thunder to the flare’s lightning, except imagine a lightning over an ocean that is so strong that it creates a tsunami.”

The researchers studied an eruption that took place on Feb. 15, 2011. They found that sunquakes 1,000 times more powerful than the March 2011 Japanese earthquake were triggered at two ends of the erupting rope of magnetic field. The sudden expansion of the magnetic field as it erupts is thought to play a part in the generation of the sunquakes.

The eruption travelled through our solar system at around 600 kilometres per second (1.34 million miles per hour) towards Earth, causing a geomagnetic storm and aurora when it hit the Earth’s atmosphere.

It is for this reason that study of sunquakes is of interest, especially as solar activity is predicted to increase and peak in 2013.

“Sunquakes themselves do not have [an] impact on Earth as they are acoustic waves travelling inside the Sun. But flares and, accompanying them, Coronal Mass Ejections that we have shown play an important role in generating sunquakes, can and do impact Earth,” Zharkov said.

“Sunquakes now form an integral part for our search for understanding of flare and CME phenomena.”

Flares and CMEs have a direct impact on space weather, so understanding how they form could help in predicting when they are going to occur and planning for possible geomagnetic storms, which can affect satellites and radio and GPS equipment on Earth.

But sunquakes are relatively rare, explained Zharkhov. “Known sunquakes were all generated by string solar flares (X and M class), which occur only during the active part of an [11-year] Solar Cycle. However, only a small fraction of such flares produce sunquakes,” he said.

“There is also a chance, however, that sunquakes are more common than we think; it’s just that our means of detecting them are not yet up to scratch.”

Until recently, observation of sunquakes had been hampered by availability of data. “With the (relatively) new NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory satellite providing us with practically continuous high resolution and high cadence observations of the Sun, this problem is now solved,” Zharkov said.

Much like geologists use earthquakes to understand the internal structure of our planet, future research will be focused on using sunquakes to learn more about the internal processes of the Sun, said Zharkov. As scientists still don’t fully understand how sunquakes are generated, research will also continue to look for physical explanations of this solar phenomenon.

Update: 03-21-2012. With just over 1.5 Billion sever request ‘per-month’ to this website [www.solar-storm-warning.com] now, (and climbing) you most likely have heard about NASA warning the public, “to get ready for a once in a life time solar storm event”. But since we first published this update back in early 2010, a lot more information has since unfolded. Soon we will add some additional NASA footage here that is very troubling, that gives cause to exactly why NASA is so concerned.

Additionally we have been inundated by email asking us about other pending issues expected in 2012-2013. IE: Meteorite storm, sudden pole shift, Nibiru (aka planet-x), extreme weather, earthquakes, volcanic activity and the oceans of the world rushing across the continuants of the world resulting from a sudden pole shift.

All we can say is that there is so much conflicting data out there, that it’s hard to know what to believe. But no doubt that 2011 smashed all modern world records when it comes to the most natural disasters in a single year, breaking some three thousand records just in the United States. That alone says something. Should this trend escalate greatly 2012, mankind will have to start taking the 2012, 2013 warning signs very seriously. (03.09.2012: Update – Weather records in the United States continue to be broken at an incredible rate in 2012. IE: Mass tornados & super storms.)

Though we publish a Solar Storm Survival Guide, we have delayed it’s release in updating it to better cover other possible world calamities. There is no need to panic. Simply prepare yourself as best as you can, and hopefully nothing serious will happen. But in case something does, you will have a head start in being prepared. We must keep in mind that should any one or more of these events actually happen, each and everyone of us will have no choice but to fend for our own food and water as well as protection from the elements and would be predators for months, possibly for years to come. If you are way up in your years, most likely you really don’t care at this point, that is, unless you have family you might be concerned about.

As we originally stated…

In light of recent news, the following information is paramount. On July 14, 2010 we learned that our sun is passing through an interstellar energy cloud which excites/energizes the sun. NASA, along with The National Academy of Science and other world renowned scientist are so concerned about this up and coming solar maximum in late 2012, that way back in March 10, 2006 NASA issued a solar storm warning (in writing) for 2012. What NASA omitted in their 2006 solar storm warning is what prompted NASA in the first place to issue a 2012 solar storm warning four years in advance? Then in 2010, NASA again warns the general population of a pending solar storm, telling the population to get ready for a once in a lifetime solar storm. Despite that news agencies and websites like this one are beginning to cover this developing story, no high government official has yet to stick his or her neck out to make an official announcement about the catastrophic implications as to allow the global population to begin preparing.

The following scientific data revealed by Alexei Dmitriev (found below) further supports NASA’s original 2012 solar storm warning issued back in March of 2006.

Astrophysicist Alexei Dmitriev says that both Voyager 1 and Voyager 2 satellites reveal that our sun, as well as our entire solar system, is now moving into an interstellar energy cloud. Opher, a NASA Heliophysics Guest Investigator from George Mason University says this interstellar energy cloud is turbulent. Dmitriev explains that this cloud of energy is exciting the atmospheres of our planets and especially our sun. As this interstellar energy cloud continues to excite/charge the sun, it causes the sun to become more active, resulting in greater output from the sun. IE: Bigger and more frequent solar storms and CME’s resulting in the Carrington effect. This interstellar cloud of electrical energy is also absorbed by the Earth, and scientist have found that it results in more earthquakes, all while dramatically effecting our weather here on earth. When asked how long will it take our sun to pass through this interstellar energy cloud, Dr. Dmitriev replied, “I don’t know. But If I had to guess, I would say somewhere between two thousand to three thousand years.” This interstellar cloud is a wispy band of charged particles through which our solar system is slowly moving through.

When Dr. Dmitriev was asked what are the implications of all this for earth he replied, “Global catastrophe! Not in tens of years from now, but in ones of years” …in that this global catastrophe is basically right around the corner setting the stage for NASA’s latest solar storm warning 2012-2013.

Dr. Dmitriev is talking about the Carrington Effect which can knock out electrical power and all modern forms of communications world wide for months on end, even years. When that happens, global anarchy and mass looting will soon begin as the food chain will become paralyzed/crippled in modern countries, while water shortages will quickly become a threat to our very survival because electricity is what runs the pumps that gets the water to our homes and offices. If you are not prepared prepared to be self sufficient for one to two years, then you and your family will be at risk of dehydration and starvation during a time when drinking water, food and toilet paper will be more valuable then money itself.

This blog is written by AccuWeather Facebook page’s astronomy expert Daniel Vogler.

The other day, we witnessed something spectacular in my opinion, although the event is considered by most mainstream scientists a “coincidence.” I happen to believe there are no coincidences, we just have yet to figure out the reasoning behind them.

The event I am referring to is the Comet SWAN making it to its final destination that is the Sun and what happened after that. To see the comet again, click here.

A Coronal Mass Ejection was present nearly an hour or two later after the comet disappeared into the corona.

For a comet to have an effect on the Sun, it would require immense magnetic field strength. The comet itself does not have its own magnetic field, but it CAN get one as it gets closer to the sun. An induced magnetic field works like this: A comet’s most abundant ice species is the H2O water ice. As the comet gets closer to the sun, the ice sublimates, producing gas that trails behind it along with dust. It’s this setup that allows the mass ionization around the tail known as the ion tail. When you have ions, you then can have a magnetic field generating from the incoming solar wind from the sun. Once the particles have been ionized, they attain a net positive electrical charge. As the comet, now with its induced magnetic field, travels, a bow shock is formed. In this bow shock, large concentrations of cometary ions (called “pick-up ions”) congregate and act to “load” the solar magnetic field with plasma, such that the field lines “drape” around the comet forming the ion tail. (Carroll, B. W.; Ostlie, D. A. (1996). An Introduction to Modern Astrophysics. Addison-Wesley. pp. 864-874)

The addition of heavy cometary ions to the solar wind flow alters the dynamics due to the mass addition itself and also because the pick-up ions have a large pressure. The net effect is to slow down the solar wind. This slow-down process takes place continuously until a critical mass flux is reached, at which point a shock forms. (Galeev, A. A., Plasma processes in the outer coma, in Comets in the Post-Halley Era, vol. 2, eds. R. L.Newburn, Jr. et al., p. 1145, Kluwer Acad., Norwell, MA, 1991.)

Why am I being so technical with the vocabulary? If you haven’t figured out yet, the Sun’s own magnetic field is the main reason behind CMEs. And what would happen if something like a comet with an induced magnetic field that gets stronger, collecting plasma, as it gets closer to the Sun? My idea goes along the lines of the strength of the bow shock once it gets at the sun’s chromosphere, it generates enough magnetic force to shove each other and one will have to give, and since the sun is a gas star (albeit way bigger than the comet), the reaction comes from the other side (CME). Imagine trying to push two really big, like-sided magnets together.

I really hope this makes better sense as to how a comet gets a magnetic field and how this induced field is actually the culprit of the CME. Keep in mind, this is just a theory running around in my head with a few works cited on how the magnetic field is made. I have yet to see a real peer-reviewed study of this “coincidence.” If you have something to add to the theory that I may have not thought of, please like and comment on AccuWeather Astronomy on facebook for discussion.